What if Yellow Fever
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if instead of killing you ghost sickenss turned you into the thing you most feared?  Chapter 3 of 3 up.
1. Pigeon Infestation

What If instead of killing you ghost sickness turned you into the thing you most feared?

Thanks to girlyghoul for the what if question

Sam and Dean rolled into town. Some local guy named Frank had disappeared and about the same time, an unnaturally large flock of pigeons had arrived.

"I don't know, Dean, do you really think this is our kind of thing? How could pigeons be supernatural," Sam asked, wondering what Dean was thinking.

"Well, there's the missing local," Dean pointed out.

"Maybe he just doesn't like pigeons," Sam hypothesized. He had to admit if he lived somewhere and it all of the sudden became infested with dirty, disgusting rats with wings, he'd leave, too.

"Look, we're close by. We'll check it out. If it's nothing, we'll split," Dean promised.

"OK," Sam said.

They got out of the car and headed to the park, which was where they were told that they were. All the pigeons seemed to be moving as one. Like they were just all part of one big mind or something. "That's creepy," Sam admitted.

Suddenly as a group the pigeons lifted in flight and came right at Sam and Dean. Sam covered his eyes and turned to run for the car. Maybe Dean was right and something was going on here. This was something out of the movie The Birds. Dean had let him watch that when he was five and he had not particularly like birds since.

As Sam was running for the car, Dean was transfixed. He had another of his glimpses of Hell and he remembered one day the demon who normally tortured him just set some birds loose on him and let them peck his eyes out over and over again.

"DEAN!" Sam yelled as the birds swooped towards Dean as one. At the last minute they swooped up and over him. Dean would have been grateful, except for the fact that he was covered in pigeon crap.

"Gross," he said.

Sam laughed.

"That was weird," Dean commented.

"Yeah. I've never seen birds move together like that. What should we do?" Sam asked.

"Maybe we should investigate the missing guy," Dean suggested.

"OK. Let's go talk to his next door neighbor. He was the last one to see him."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sam and Dean sat in Frank's neighbor's house. He was stroking a snake, as he talked to them.

"So, what makes you think Frank is missing?" Dean asked.

"I haven't seen him since the night before last," Mark answered.

"Couldn't he have just gone on vacation or something?" Sam asked.

"No way. He was acting real weird lately."

"Weird how?" Sam and Dean asked together. Sam rolled his eyes. He had a feeling they looked like morons when they did that.

"He was afraid of everything. Including leaving the house."

"Was he always afraid of leaving the house?" Dean asked.

"No, this just started a couple of days ago. He was afraid of witches and Al-Qaeda, and cats and dogs, everything."

"Witches?" Sam asked, picking up on the one thing that might be helpful in that list.

"Yeah, the Wizard of Oz was on last night and he said that green lady was totally out to get him. He called over to me to come over and turn off the TV. He was afraid if he did it himself, he would get electrocuted."

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. "Was that the last time you saw him?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Then yesterday morning, I went over to check on him and he was gone. I knocked on the door, there was no answer, so I just opened it. A whole flock of birds came flying out."

"The pigeons that are in the park now?" Dean asked, remembering his leather jacket, which was probably ruined beyond recognition. Those birds were so dead.

"I guess."

"Any idea how they got there?" Sam asked, figuring the answer was no.

"No," Mark answered to nobody's surprise, but then he added something. "It was weird, though, because birds were the one thing Frank was afraid of his whole life."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"No idea, but he always said that birds were evil and they were all plotting to peck his eyes out."

Dean shuddered as he thought of Hell again.

"OK, I guess that's it," Sam said as he stood to leave. Dean followed suit.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"OK, this is getting weirder by the second," Dean said. "Is it possible that Frank turned into a flock of pigeons?"

"A loft," Sam said.

"What?' Dean asked.

"A group of pigeons is called a loft, not a flock."

"Do you have to be such a know-it-all?" Dean asked. Sometimes Sam was so irritating. He had always been proud that Sam was so smart, but he could never just let anything go.

"Sorry," Sam offered. "Anyway, that sounds a little crazy don't you think?"

"No, it sounds massively crazy, but so does every day of our lives," Dean countered.

"Good point," Sam said. "Maybe Bobby's heard of something like this before." He pulled out his phone and called him. "Hey, Bobby," he began.

"What's up?" Bobby asked. Seems like the boys only called him when they needed information. He didn't mind helping them, enjoyed it actually, but he wished they would call during off times, too, once in a while.

"We have kind of a weird case," Sam said.

"Weird how?" Bobby asked. Weird could mean a lot of things.

"This local guy disappeared. Beforehand he had suddenly been scared of everything. Then, we think he turned into a flock of pigeons," Sam said, waiting for Bobby to call him an idjit.

"Was he afraid of pigeons before the rash of fears?" Bobby asked.

"Actually, yes," Sam said, surprised by the question.

"Sounds like ghost sickness to me," Bobby said.


	2. Hallucinations

"Sounds like ghost sickness to me," Bobby said.

"What's that?" Sam asked. He was surprised by the fact that there was something he hadn't heard of yet. He felt like he had been hunting forever.

"It's a virus that a ghost infects someone with. They get scared of everything and 48 hours later, they turn into what they are most afraid of."

"So, if we kill the ghost, will it stop the sickness?"

"No, there's no cure once you're infected. The good news is that the ghost can only infect one person. The bad news is that person can infect others."

"How?" Sam asked, nervously.

"Bodily fluids," Bobby answered.

"So, if the pigeons defecate on someone?" Sam asked.

Dean could only hear Sam's side of the conversation, but he perked up at that. Sam was clearly concerned about the fact that the birds pooped on him.

"Yeah, you'll have to kill the pigeons," Bobby said.

"They already went on Dean," Sam said.

Bobby sighed. "I'll do some more looking, but I don't know of a cure. In the meantime, kill those pigeons. Just killing one ought to kill the whole flock."

"OK," Sam said. He hung up and filled Dean in.

"Let's go kill a pigeon," Sam said and handed Dean a gun.

"I'm not carrying that," Dean protested.

"Why not?" Sam asked, looking at the gun. It was Dean's, one of his favorites.

"It might go off," Dean said, picturing himself accidentally blowing his head off.

"I think it's starting," Sam sighed. He took his gun and walked off towards the park. Luckily the pigeons were back. He took aim and shot one. The whole flock fell down dead.

Sam headed back towards Dean. He saw that he was cowering up against the Impala. "What's wrong?" Sam asked, not seeing anything that would cause this fear.

"There was a tiger. It scuttled into the bushes, but it's there stalking me."

"A tiger?" Sam asked. They were in Colorado, not India.

Dean nodded vigorously. Sam bent down towards the bush. "No, Sammy," Dean yelled, but didn't go forward to shield him. If Sam was stupid enough to tangle with a tiger, that was his problem. Sam reached his arm into the bush and Dean squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to watch Sam's arm get mauled.

Sam produced a small tiger cat. "Is this your tiger?" Sam asked. "It's too cute to maul you." As he turned back to look at Dean, he saw him close to a mile away, running. If it weren't for the dire consequences, this would be funny, Sam thought.

Dean had gone back to the hotel room. Actually he had gotten another room. Their room was on the second floor, and he was afraid of what would happen if he fell out of the window. There was a knock at the door. He cautiously opened it.

"Dad?" Dean asked, confused. His father was a ghost. That was pretty scary. He backed away.

"Dean, I can't believe what you did in Hell," John said and punched him.

"No, Dad," Dean protested.

"I raised you better than that. How could you do it?"

"I couldn't help it. I held out for thirty years," Dean defended himself.

"There was a reason I always favored Sammy over you," John said as he continued beating Dean.

"Hey!" Sam yelled from the door. "Dean, why are you on the floor?" His father disappeared.

"I think I was hallucinating," Dean said as he carefully got up. The good thing about a hallucination, he discovered, was that a beating carried no aftereffects.

"What did you hallucinate?" Sam asked.

Dean just shrugged. If he could help it, he would never admit to Sam that he remembered Hell. He would definitely not tell him what he did down there. Sam would hate him.

Sam's phone rang. "Hey, Bobby," he greeted.

"I found a cure," Bobby said.

"That's great," Sam exulted. "What is it?"

"You have to wait until he turns into what he most fears and then you have to make him drink a glass of holy water."

"We can't do it before he changes?" Sam asked. With all the stuff that Dean knew about, he could turn into anything. Might be hard to get a glass of holy water down him. And what if he turned into a demon? The cure might about kill him.

"You can try it," Bobby said, but I'm pretty sure you have to wait until he turns."

"Is there a time limit after he turns?" Sam asked. Dean, in whatever form he took, might run away from him, or maybe he would run away in fear before he turned and Sam would have to find him. He hoped time was not of the essence, just to be safe.

"It has to be within 24 hours of him changing. After that, it will be too late," Bobby said.

"Thanks, Bobby."

Again, Sam relayed all of the information to Dean. "Let's have some holy water now," Dean said, hoping maybe Bobby had his info wrong. If nothing else, it couldn't hurt.

"OK," Sam agreed and went into the bathroom to bless some water. Dean drank a glass and looked at his watch.

"How much longer to wait?" he asked.

"Two hours," Sam said.

Dean didn't think the holy water worked. He still felt afraid. "Sam, look out!" he yelled.

Sam turned around and didn't see anything. "What?" he asked.

"Vampire."

Dean was waving a machete around the room. Sam figured it would probably be a good idea to get it away from him before he hurt himself.

Sam approached him. "Dean," he said. Dean swung the machete towards him. Sam jumped back. He must be hallucinating again. "Dean," he said, again, trying to get his attention.

Dean looked like he was attacking invisible vampires in his mind. Suddenly, he stopped. "Let him go," he growled, low.

Let who go? Sam wondered. What was going on in Dean's mind?

"You don't want to drink his blood. It's tainted."

OK, that was obviously about him.

"OK, OK," Dean said in a worried tone and put his machete down and raised his hands. Sam slowly approached, bent down and picked up the machete. He was relieved that Dean didn't have it any more. Hallucinations and weapons definitely didn't mix.

Suddenly, Dean laid down and spread his hands out. "No, Alistair, please," he begged.

"Who's Alistair?" Sam asked.

Instead of answering, Dean starting screaming. Sam didn't like the sound of that for two reasons. First of all, he didn't like hearing Dean in so much pain even if it wasn't real. And second of all, he was being awfully loud. Someone was probably going to call the cops soon.

He decided he could fix both problems at once. He walked up to Dean and hit him on the head. Dean lost consciousness, ending the screaming. Sam could only hope whatever was happening wouldn't continue in his sleep. He checked his watch. A half hour until Dean would change into God only knew what.

Sam got a glass of holy water. He wondered what kind of creature he would end up having to force it down. Vampire, demon? Dean had an especial hatred of witches, "always spewing out bodily fluids." That would probably be the best case scenario of anything Sam could think of.

He sat back and watched the minutes tick by. Dean didn't seem to be in any pain as he slept, so that was good.

It was time.

Sam watched as Dean changed. He couldn't believe what he changed in to. It wasn't anything that had gone through his head.


	3. What Dean Fears the Most

Sam watched as Dean changed. He couldn't believe what he changed in to. It wasn't anything that had gone through his head.

He sighed and brought the holy water over to him. He lifted up his head and forced the holy water down his mouth. He watched as he changed back into Dean. At the same time, Dean woke up, coughing.

"Dude, what the hell?" Dean asked.

"I gave you the holy water to turn you back into you," Sam said.

"Did it work?" Dean asked and jumped up to look in the mirror. "Why are my clothes torn?"

"You were bigger," Sam said.

"What did I turn into? Was it the Incredible Hulk? That would have been cool."

"No, it wasn't the Incredible Hulk."

"What then?" Dean asked. He was starting to get a little worried. Sam was acting odd. "Did I hurt you?"

"No."

"What's with you? You're acting weird. Tell me what I turned in to."

"Me."

"What?"

"You turned into me."

Dean took a minute to mull that over. "Sorry, Sammy."

"Why are you afraid of me? I would never hurt you," Sam asked, confused. He couldn't understand why Dean would be afraid of him.

"What you were doing with Ruby that time," Dean answered. That scared him. He didn't know how Sam could exorcise demons with his mind, but he knew it wasn't good.

"That was a couple of months ago, Dean. I told you that I was done with my psychic thing. I'm not going to use it anymore." Sam was hurt that Dean would be afraid of that. He had promised that he wouldn't use his psychic powers anymore and he meant it. Why couldn't Dean trust him? He always trusted Dean.

"I know, Sammy and I believe you," Dean said. He was lying. He wasn't sure that he did believe Sam, but if Sam was telling the truth, the fastest way to push him back to Ruby would be to tell him he didn't trust him, that he thought he had changed somehow while he was downstairs.

"Then why are you afraid of me?"

Dean wondered why Sam could never let anything go. There was no way this conversation was going to come out good.

"I don't know, Sam. What do you want from me? Maybe it wasn't specifically you, that I'm afraid of, but people who have demonic powers."

Sam looked up sharply, thinking Dean knew something. But then he just realized that he was calling them demonic powers because the yellow-eyed demon started it all.

"Fine," Sam finally said. He didn't buy it for one minute. Dean was scared of him, but there was probably nothing he could do to change that. Maybe as time went by and he didn't use his powers, Dean's fear would ebb.

Dean knew that Sam was hurt. He would be hurt, too, if he found out that he was Sam's biggest fear.

"Want to take a week off?" Dean suddenly asked.

"What?" Sam asked. They were in the middle of the end of the world and Dean wanted to take a break?

"We've been going non-stop since I got back. We should do something fun."

"Yeah, that would be great," Sam said. He didn't really care, but he thought about what Dean just said. It would probably really suck to be in Hell for four months and then come back and work constantly. The guy deserved some fun. "What do you want to do? Want to go to the Grand Canyon?" Sam asked, remembering a conversation they had had a couple of years ago.

Dean thought about the Grand Canyon. It was a big chasm. It would probably remind him of Hell. "No. Let's go to the beach."

"The beach?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, girls in bikinis."

Sam smiled. In some ways, Dean would probably never change. "OK, let's go."

The End


End file.
